Trustmus takes review fraud seriously. Writing or paying for fake reviews is unethical, against Trustmus’s guidelines and is illegal in many jurisdictions. New York’s Attorney General recently fined 19 companies $350,000 for violations associated with fake reviews. Trustmus uses software algorithms, community reporting and other methods to aggressively detect and remove fake reviews. If a company is discovered to be writing or paying for fake reviews they may lose access to their Trustmus Business Account, have their business publicly flagged as manipulating reviews and be demoted in Trustmus search.

Careful consideration should be taken if you are considering legal action against
a reviewer. Defamation suits are expensive, difficult to win, and tend to draw
additional attention to the issues you would prefer ignored. You will also run
a risk of the
Anti-SLAPP statute requiring you to pay attorneys’ fees to the other side.
Rarely, there may be cases where legal action is appropriate, but in general,
it is unlikely you will find what you are looking for by suing someone who gives
you a bad review.